


A Flickering Flame

by RipplingSnow



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: BDSM, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Male My Unit | Byleth, Possessive Sex, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Slow Burn, Teacher-Student Relationship, Torture, Yandere Rhea, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-11-11
Packaged: 2020-09-19 00:27:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20322034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RipplingSnow/pseuds/RipplingSnow
Summary: The Crest of Flames was a crest birthed from the goddess herself, rumored to hold powers beyond imagination. It belongs to Byleth now but who didn't say that power didn't come with consequences? Byleth will soon learn the hard way why the Children of the Goddess can turn into dragons.... at the expense of a certain Black Eagle Leader.[M! Byleth x Edelgard]





	1. A "Normal Day" at the Monastery

**Byleth**

It was a bright, sunny morning at Garreg Mach Monastery. Many of the inhabitants living on the grounds were already bustling around the grounds. Byleth was sitting at his desk, preparing for his next lecture for the students. He figured since he just started working at the monastery, it should be best to wake up and start the day earlier. A few days ago both his father and himself saved a group of kids from bandits. They were separated from the Knights of Serio, their chaperones for the day, when the bandits attacked. That’s when they met Byleth. Luckily they defeated the bandits in time before anyone truly got hurt. As they were traveling back to the monastery, it turns out those kids were the three house leaders of Garreg Mach’s Officers Academy; Dimitri, Claude, and Edelgard. 

Edelgard is the future emperor of the Adrestian Empire, Dimitri is the prince of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, while Claude is the heir to the leading house of the Leicester Alliance. They were attending a boarding school where they could hone the power of their crests, power gifted to them from the goddess, or so they say. When they arrived at the monastery, he came face to face with with archbishop. It only spiraled out of control since then, he was down right forced to become a professor at the recommendation of Archbishop Rhea. He was given the choice to pick between the Black Eagles, Blue Lions, and Golden Deer Houses. Ultimately he chose Edelgard’s group, the Black Eagles house. He felt a strange feeling whenever his eyes connected with hers, drawing him towards her.

It was a creeping feeling at the back of his mind but it wasn’t controlling him. For now he decided to ignore it as there were bigger fish to fry than a “weird” feeling towards one of his students. Byleth couldn’t figure out why Rhea wanted him here in the first place. He felt he wasn’t suited to be a teacher. _ I’m worried about that Rhea too, you should be careful around her. _ A familiar voice echoed in his head. This entity’s name was Sothis, she was the voice that lived in his mind. She appeared in his dreams from time to time. Even now Sothis was standing before him, sitting on the corner of his desk. Outside of that he really didn’t know much about her. ‘Sothis, not now. I have to focus on these papers.’ Although she was cosplaying a student at this school? That’s what he believed when he saw her in their school uniform today instead of her usual fantasy attire. 

However it wasn’t like anyone could hear nor see her so it was fine for her to be around him. _ Hmpf and here I was trying to help you. _ Sothis folded her arms with a sigh. Byleth ignored her minor temper tantrum, instead focused on the papers in front of him. He was taking the time to memorize the names of his students he would be teaching. Today was the first day that he was officially teaching so he wanted to make a good impression on them. Hearing a knock on the door, Byleth left his inner thoughts as his gaze towards the doorway. Sothis already took the time to disappear, going back to sleep he figured. “Hello Professor, sorry to bother you but could you take a look at this?” Standing at the door was Professor Hanneman, he was holding several papers with a large grin on his face.

“Sure. Come in Hanneman, what do you need?” He replied, moving his papers to the corner of his desk. It wasn't uncommon for either of the professors to come visit him during the early morning. “Ah I was looking at your crest and I came up with an amazing discovery so I rushed over as fast as I could. Apparently you house the crest of flames in your body! Isn’t that exciting?!” Byleth could never understand where his excitement came from when it came to crests. However, at least he had a clue as to what kind of power laid dorimant in his body. For this he was thankful to the older male for. “Think of all that research that I could do! Hey do you think you could assist me with more research?” Just from that tone alone, he knew that Hanneman wouldn’t stop hounding him unless he put a stop to it right now.

It would be annoying to get constantly bothered by him when he was extremely busy with other things.“Hanneman I don’t think we should-” Another knock sounded from the door. Byleth strained his neck to see around Hanneman, curious to see who was at his door now. ‘Please for the love of the Goddess don’t let it be Mannuela.’ He silently prayed in the back of his mind. He didn’t know if he could take both professors bothering him early in the morning. “Excuse me Teacher. We’ve been standing here for awhile now. Can we come in?” Edelgard and the others were standing in the hallway, peering into the room. 

Byleth didn’t know how long they were standing there but from the looks of things, they didn’t hear their discussion. “Oh dear I’ve held up your class, I’m terribly sorry about this. Excuse me everyone, have a good evening and study well. I shall keep in touch Professor.” The gentleman laughed as he scurried out of the room, while everyone just watched his retreating figure down the hallway. His students quickly flowed into the classroom, stopping in front of his desk after placing their things at their seats. “Teacher we’re ready for class introductions, if you would please show us your plans for this week.” Edelgard wasted no time to ask this of him. Byleth gathered the papers off his desk and shoved them into his side cabinet.

His students broke into two groups, taking the time to introduce themselves at a time. “Hello teacher, you have already met me so there is no need for laten introductions. This is Linhardt von Hevring, Hubert von Vestra, and Bernadetta von Varley.” Edelgard jestered to the two boys and girl beside them. They said their greetings then left to their seats. Up next was another girl leading his other section of students. Just judging by the looks alone, she was more of a party type of girl. “Hello I’m Dorothea. Professor the people standing next to me are Ferdinand, Caspar, and Petra.” The brunette was bubbly with charisma as she introduced the others beside her. Dorothea didn’t bother being as formal as Edelgard, instead taking a lax approach while introducing others. 

Byleth made sure to memories each name and appearance, taking note if anything stood out. “It is nice to meet you as well. I am Byleth Einser, you can call me whatever you like. Though I’m going to be your professor for the rest of your time here at Garreg Mach Monastery so I expect great results from everyone here.” He introduced himself to the class. In the corner of his eye he could see Linhardt already nodding off to sleep, his head hitting the desk with a loud bang. Of course neither the noise nor the pain seemed to wake him up, he was utterly hopeless. None of the other students seemed phased as well, looking on as if it was a daily occurrence. Byleth secretly hoped that he made the correct choice in choosing this bunch over the Blue Lions or even the Golden Deers.

* * *

It was in the afternoon when he finally finished teaching his new students for the day. “Well looks like that’s finally over with.” Byleth groaned. He wasn’t used to sitting around all day at a desk but he had to do this. ‘It’s only for today, then you get to teach them properly.’ He tried to encourage himself, leaning against the back of his chair. Most of his students had already left to go eat dinner, many of them skipped lunch as they were eager to learn from him. Only Dorothea, Edelgard, and Petra remained in the classroom. During the moments that he taught this class, he noticed those three were intently writing down everything he said. Byleth decided in his heart, that he would definitely do better with teaching them tomorrow.

‘They really are good students. No everyone in the class are good students.’ Byleth nodded at this thought, not giving an indication as to what he was thinking. “Professor, do you think you can help me with some work questions? I mean, can you help me with these questions?” Standing next to him was Petra, she held her notebook in her hand. Many people simply believed he was emotionless. Yes he didn’t express emotions like others but he still felt things like anger or boredom. Byleth simply nodded, agreeing to help her with her work. He took note of her weird speech patterns but chose not to mention them as he was just a teacher, there was no need for any bonds outside of that, not her friend. 

Byleth noticed that she was studying the ways of the sword. Lucky for her, he was quite versatile in many weapons, although the sword would always be his best mastered weapon. Based on the questions written in the notebook, Byleth quickly picked up his black inked pin and began writing neatly in her book. He explained every question in detail so it wouldn’t be as hard for her to understand, based on the difficult language barrier between them. “Alright here you go. If you study everything I wrote down and apply it to your skills now, you can see a great improvement in your motions. I believe you will see how your weapon gets lighter with every swing.” He explained while giving the notebook back to Petra. “Thank you Professor.” She replied, gathering her book in her arms and leaving out the door.

Dorothea walked out with her, their happy chatter echoing down the hallway before cutting off completely. It was just Byleth and Edelgard in the room now. “Edelgard, shouldn’t you be leaving too?” He asked, not noticing that she was standing in front of his desk. “I just wanted to say thank you for choosing our house. I will try to reign in everyone by tomorrow.” Hearing the closeness of her voice caught the young teacher off guard.Their eyes connected, blue meeting violet, and a jolt of electricity was felt between the two. Something about her just made him uneasy; he started to feel hot underneath her stare. “Oh yeah that’s fine…” He said this in a low voice, hoping that she would leave already. Underneath the table he was gripping the ends of his chair, small cracks began to appear from the sheer pressure he was pressing down on it.

Byleth was starting to get uncomfortably hot while Edelgard just stared at him. “Teacher are you perhaps feeling okay?” Edelgard was concerned, he was fine a minute ago but now he looked pale. “I’m fine.” Byleth shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “You don’t look so good. Your complexion is completely pale." Edelgard reached over and touched his forehead with the back of her hand. "Hmm your temperature is a little high but not enough to where you are sick. Still you should check up with Professor Mannuela before you go back to your door tonight Teacher." He was getting tempted by her with those slender fingers, as she touched his forehead. In his mind Byleth just wanted to pull her close and hold her, kiss her even. That’s when the mysterious scent hit him, a vanilla scent flowed into his nose as he inhaled.

His eyes briefly constricted before they returned to normal; they resembled that of a dragons’. Byleth immediately knew it was coming from the student in front of him; why did she have so much power of him? “Edelgard… you smell so good.” Quickly Byleth looked away from the white haired girl, cursing himself in his mind for being so stupid. He accidentally let his thoughts slip out of his mouth. Luckily for him Edelgard faked like she didn’t hear those words come out of her teacher’s mouth, instead continuing to look down at him with concern. “I’m sorry Edelgard but I have some teacher meetings I have to attend to. Do have a good evening Miss Edelgard.” The young teacher shot up from his seat, ushering his student out of his classroom.

His eyes were completely misty, hidden behind the bangs of his hair. ‘Just don’t look at her. Don’t look at her.’ He thought this, keeping his eyes cast down towards the floor to avoid looking at her. As he led her to the door, it took all of Byleth’s willpower not to do something he would regret. “A-Ah I see. Well teacher I hope you have a nice day.” Edelgard was bewildered as to why she was practically kicked out of the room, the door was quickly shut behind her. Clearly something was wrong with their teacher, she just needed to get to the bottom of it. “Lady Edelgard, your presence is requested at the cafeteria. Apparently Ferndard and Sylvain are making bets again. This time it’s who can get the most girls panty shots.” Despite his standoffish demeanor, Hubert actually enjoyed seeing the two idiots of the houses set bets. 

There was truly no use stopping them as they would just continue the bet the next day, people have just learned to deal with their childish ways. It proved meager entertainment for the other students though so that was a plus. “Huh? Oh thank you Hubert, let us not keep them waiting any longer.” The class leader cleared her mind, putting their teacher’s condition on the back burner, instead walking with her friend Hubert back to the cafeteria. Back at the classroom Byleth was a complete and utter mess. His face was completely pale and dripping with sweat. Just by being around Edelgard for so long reduced him to such a state. He wondered what was happening to him. Like Sothis said, he was truly a fool.

“A-Ah…. Ah…” Byleth was breathing heavy, sweat rolled down his face. Even now he still wanted to be close to her, bringing her back to his classroom and into his own embrace. It was hard to say whether he lusted after her or just simply fell in love with her. This was the first time he's ever acted this way towards a person of the opposite sex, even worse someone that trusted him in teaching and training with them. ‘This is the worst possible outcome.’ He thought bitterly to himself. Byleth by now was aware of the princess’s affects she had on his body. He only hoped that this would be the worst of the problems, he could hardly imagine that this so called illness could get any worse. If not then he would have to resort to taking Hanneman up on his research opportunity.


	2. The Little Mundane Terror

**Byleth**

Byleth sat against the door of his classroom, his head leaning against the door, until his heart calmed down. It was sharply beating in his chest, he exhaled a sigh of relief. It took him a good 5 minutes to stop his heart from beating out of his chest, even more so at the thought of his student. Those lovely rose lips, her soft, delicate white hair, and even those calming violet eyes. The more Byleth thought about her, the more restless he became. Even now her scent filled every inch of the room, it was intoxicating to say the least. If Edelgard was standing before him now Byleth was certain he would’ve lost his mind there and did an unspeakable thing to her. The young professor found the smell oddly comforting, although he could just air out the room.

It made him have a feeling of longing… almost as if a piece of him disappeared and never returned. Enough is enough. He decided this to himself. If he continued to react to her like this, it would surely pose a problem to both parties alike. Byleth couldn’t risk rumors about him lusting after one of his students. That could surely destroy both his and her reputation, there must be other methods to combat and treat whatever illness he possessed. “Edelgard… what am I to do with you?” He whispered this out-loud. He couldn’t rely on Sothis much as she was still sleeping and he didn’t know where the spirit would awaken again. So regrettably he would have to go searching for Mannuela instead, the next best knowledgeable person on campus. 

By now he had gotten off the floor, pacing back and forth in front of his desk. ‘I’ll just go to Mannuela and get this over with.’ Without a second thought, Byleth opened the door and walked out of his classroom. He made to lock the door behind him, stuffing the key into his pocket before walking off for the day. Unbeknownst to him, Byleth subtly agreed in taking Edelgard’s advice at seeing the residential doctor on campus. The hallway outside were brimming with students, many students were lining the halls talking among each other. If they weren’t talking with each other then they were eating dinner; many students sat in secluded places and ate their meals in peace. Overall everyone seemed rather glad that classes were over for the day, often they enjoyed the free time that they possessed after a hard day of studying. Of course some students were never slackers, often taking even the smallest opportunity to learn something new.

“Teach, watch out!” Byleth was caught off guard when a person knocked into him. By the force of the impact the person below him was sent falling onto the floor. At the last second he managed to catch the student, holding her by her hand as he guided her back to center, he remained sturdy without any signs of balance falter. Looking around he noticed Claude was standing in front of him, the laid back personality of that certain house leader was practically showing. Finally checking to see who he had bumped into, he noticed it was another member of the Golden Deers that he knocked into. If Byleth remembered correctly, the little one’s name was Lysithea and she had a height complex with others. “Are you okay?” Byleth had to bend down to check on the girl. Lysithea wanted to die in that moment, it was totally embarrassing that their professor had to do this. She would never live this down, better yet Claude would never let her have any rest.

“Can you not treat me like a child?!” She snapped directly at Byleth. “I’m sorry?” The young professor was taken aback by her rather brazen attitude towards him. What exactly had he done to her? All he did was lean down so she didn't need to stretch her neck up to see him. “Sorry about her teach, Lysithea still hasn’t eaten her candy today so she’s pretty cranky today.” Claude held a carefree smile unphased by his friend’s outburst. It seemed like he was used to her outbursts, often to be the one to tease her regardless of her feelings on the matter. “I’m only a few years younger than you, tch. Why do you keep ” Lysithea mumbled this under her breathe. She was trying to hold back her temper, the last thing she needed was herself to explode in anger from the king of dumbasses. “You know if you don’t try to curb that attitude of yours, the teachers will certainly punish you to the graveyard. The ghosts there are pretty scary, or so I’ve heard.” Claude teased her once again.

He chuckled at the thought of seeing his friend running around screaming about ghosts. That would surely be something to enjoy. Glancing down while taking note of the girl’s features, Byleth noticed the subtle hint of fear in her eyes before it was replaced with the fiery pits of anger. For the sake of not getting in the middle of their argument, he decided to stay out of mentioning it. Claude seemed to have feigned ignorance to her small crack in her personality, cheekily smiling at her. “Claude! How many times must I tell you to knock it off with the ghosts?!” Lysithea wasn’t paying any attention to Byleth anymore, instead fully focusing on her house leader. She was angry that everyone kept treating her like she was a goddamn lost cause. 

It was even worse as he kept treating her like a child, often to the point where they almost get into serious fights over it. In Lysithea’s eyes Claude truly was the worst person for her to be around but she had no choice but to be around him. “But you’re small like one, Lysithea. I can’t seem to tell the difference between the two.” Claude shrugged his shoulders as he nodded his head. “Claude I definitely won't ever forgive you for this!” It seemed like their little antics were drawing a crowd. “Oh the child doesn’t want to forgive me? What about a mere princess? I’m sorry your majesty.” Claude lazily walked around the group. “Why you! Hmpf I have no time for a lowly person such as yourself. If you want to have your fun then you’ll have to find it somewhere else!” Lysithea could swear he was actually enjoying seeing her so seething with anger.

Byleth was standing in a mine field between the two, he didn’t know where he should interrupt their conversation. In part he was a little on the fence about facing Lysithea’s feisty personality just when she finished yelling at Claude. “Now now you two, can’t you sort out your differences before you draw a crowd like this? Look you even scared our poor professor silly” Another Golden Deer member walked towards the bickering duo, it was Hilda. Mercedes was accompanying her, in her hand was a small wooden basket. It appeared that the two of them were becoming fast friends, based solely on the way that they arrived together. 

Byleth could be wrong though but it wasn’t unlikely that they didn’t come from different places. “Oh dear, I’m sorry for both of my housemates outbursts Professor.” Hilda turned in his direction, smiling softly at the older man in front of them. “Hilda, what a lovely time for you to show up. Care to join us?” Claude turned his attention to the newcomers. “Oh no, I was making sure that Lysithea here didn’t end up killing you with magic. On that note of eating, would either of you be interested in eating dinner with us?” Hilda asked this sweetly, gesturing to the basket that Mercedes was carrying in her arms.

“No thank you, I don’t have time for this so I’ll just eat lunch back at my dorm. Oh and keep Claude away from me.” Lysithea scoffed at the offer of lunch with the others, instead turning to walk away from the new arrivals. The Golden Deer student loudly stomped her feet against the marble floor as she walked away from the group. “Wow you really ticked her off this time Claude.” Hilda said this when they saw the last of their companion’s white hair leave the area. “Well… she needs some fun in her life.” Claude remarked back. Byleth stood with the other students, watching as the eager crowd soon lost their interest and dispersed. “I agree completely, but she deserved it considering her thinning patience with everyone. Always so uptight, that one.” Blue Lions member Annette walked over to the group, her carefree expression never faltering once.

Even the motion of the group began to gradually start shifting towards the cafeteria. “What do you mean? What's wrong with Lysithea?” Byleth couldn’t help but to get curious over the discussion of the students. “Oh boy you guys totally haven’t noticed? She’s been giving everyone the cold shoulder since she’s gotten here.” Annette pointed this out, raising both of her hands behind her head as the group started walking. The group was walking rather slow for a large number of students, Byleth figured they wanted to make the conversation last as long as possible. “It's not just Claude that’s getting it. Raphael, Felix, Sylvain, and even poor Ignatz is getting the brunt of her anger.” Leonie interrupted their conversation, squeezing herself into the mixture of students. 

The other students didn’t seem to mind her intrudence, even welcoming her to the group. “Oh dear that must really be something. I hope she doesn’t do anything she would regret later.” Mercedes commented. She was promptly worried about Lysithea, rather because of the course she chose for herself. Walking alone and keeping a distance from others would only bring pain and heartache in the long run. From their earlier interactions Mercedes could just feel an “complexed aura” coming from Lysithea. The young girl just hoped that the young girl would give herself a break from her heartache and put her trust in others. Rather than let that heartache consume her. "I'll say. The poor thing is probably working herself to the bone, for what I wonder? I have no clue." Hilda spoke up, twirling her finger through her hair.

It became a little habit of hers after one of the knights commented how cute a girl looked when she acted sassy. “I wonder why she’s like this?” Claude whispered to himself, keeping silent from the others. His eyes were cloudy, masking his emotions well. _ That boy is rather strange. He acts so aloof and silly but he really seems to care for his teammates despite his brazen personality. _ Byleth heard Sothis in his head, albeit surprised that she woke up so soon. ‘He just seems like he’s holding himself back. His emotions don’t reach his eyes.’ As he replied to the voice, the group reached the cafeteria, each of their members went off in their separate directions. Mercedes and Hilda walked off to the side, heading towards the garden so they can eat their dinner. Along the way Ashe joined them, carrying his own basket so he could share with the girls. Claude and the others continued forward, walking towards a less crowded table.

Each of them sat down in a seat, Byleth followed suit and sat down in a chair next to Claude. _Agreed, even after you being here for awhile now. Your opinion of him still hasn’t changed, isn’t that remarkable? _Sothis pointed this out while using her hand to grasp Claude’s hair. Of course, since he couldn’t see her, he didn’t feel anything from the entity touching him without permission. “Alright I’ll go get everyone a bowl. Today’s special is Charming Soup.” Annette left the table to get everyone a bowl of soup. A murmur of mixed responses about the dish sparked up but nothing too serious amongst the students.

“Ah Annette let me help you, I’m on my way to the counter anyway. I couldn’t possibly leave such a daunting task to a young damsel such as yourself.” Sylvain spoke watching the young girl leave their table. _ Whatever hole he climbed out of, I wish I had a shovel so I can dig it deeper for him. _Sothis thought, annoyed at the young man’s brazen ways of flirting. “Why thank you for offering Sylvain, I couldn’t possibly have done this all by myself.” Annette responded, leading him to the counter without a hitch. She wasn’t even interested in him, she just did so he could help her with the dishes. 

Noticing that Claude was still silent despite the talkative manner everyone was in, Leonie spoke up to break the ice. “Lysithea is just uptight is all, there’s no need to worry your head over it Claude. Besides wouldn’t it be better to enjoy the food?” She was trying her best to comfort him, though she honestly didn’t know what he was thinking about at that moment. “What do you mean? I’m just thinking about your training with Captain Jeraltz is all.” He dodged the topic, instead pivoting the conversation towards Leonie. Leonie’s eyes seemingly lit up when Claude mentioned Byleth’s father. She immediately went into a massive spill about training methods to simple, mundane things such as what Jeralt liked in his tea.

‘To be honest Leonie sounds like a huge fan rather than his apprentice, maybe she just admires him way too much.’ Byleth thought this as she was mainly praising his father and it felt a little awkward hearing such dedication from a student. During the time that Sothis was talking, the dishes were brought back by a cheeky Sylvain and a blushing Annette. What happened between them no one knows. Byleth began to dig into his spoon, letting the hot meal slowly trickle down his throat. The temperature of the meal didn’t bother him as much, he rather liked hot to the touch food. Honestly the soup was nice and all but nothing could compare to the first meal he ate from Flayn, chicken nuggets. It was a simple dish but the amount of dedication to it surprised even him, he thoroughly enjoyed it.

  
Soon enough their meals disappeared one by one until everyone at the table was stuffed from the delicious food. Even those that were complaining shut their months once they took the first bite of the soup. It was a quiet, happy mood all around the table; all the students enjoyed the atmosphere along with their meal. “Alright teach, that’s enough for me. Golden Deer members, let us leave teach to the rest of his day. Thanks for eating with us though.” Claude announced, picking up everyone’s dishes. He took it upon himself to take them to the counter before the others joined him in leaving. One by one the students left the table until he was the last one left. Byleth watched as his students waved goodbye and left himself, on a mission to find Mannuela. Looking around the cafeteria Byleth couldn’t spot Edelgard among the crowd of leaving students; that was a relief. The more distance between the two of them was best.

However he now faced a dilemma as he followed his students to dinner when the infirmary was on the other side of the campus. He would have to back trek the way he came to get to Mannuela. _ Did I miss perhaps something when I was asleep? _ Sothis asked him, curious as to why he was thinking about Edelgard. Byleth nodded his head ‘no’ then proceeded to walk down the hallway. “Oh hello professor, how are you holding up?” Seteth approached him, his hands tied behind his back. “I’m fine.” Byleth kept his response small. “Sorry to bother you but Rhea is looking for you. She says she has something urgent to discuss with you.” 

Byleth nodded in understanding gestures. Seteth and Byleth parted ways; each heading to a different destination on campus. For Seteth it was visiting Flayn for dinner meanwhile for Byleth it was heading to Rhea’s office. _ What does that little mince want anyway? I have a bad feeling about this. _ Sothis whispered in his ear. ‘I don’t know but I don’t like this either.’ Byleth answered back to her. Together the two walked to her office, unaware of Rhea’s plan for him.

* * *

Archbishop Rhea was sitting comfortably in her office, the windows open behind her. This was one of the more quiet times of the day, she was glad to finally have some peace and quiet. Not to mean that she didn’t love her role as a figure head in the church but Seteth is a thorn in her side sometimes. Even with the amount of history the two shared together, they still bickered on occasion and often acted like children doing so. Rhea worked around the clock, helping retain the religion and guide lost souls to the Goddess Sothis for redemption. She was dedicated and hard working, often shouldering the burden on herself to relieve Seteth of such obligations. She was truly thankful that her followers were so devoted to the church, even seeing them mindlessly give thanks to the Goddess Sothis put her heart at ease.

This didn’t come with her fair share of critics, often resorting to battling forces trying to usurp her control over the church. Of course Rhea hated fighting, it only reminded her of the red canyon tragedy over 1000 years ago. Even now she still bore the bitter hatred for Nemesis, the person that stole her mother away from her. ‘If only you were here mother, you would’ve already solved this problem of uprisings.’ Rhea missed her mother dearly. Her mother was everything she needed in this world, if she just had her then nothing else would matter. Looking around the room, she sought something to distract herself from her pain. Honestly she loved the silence of her own little safe space. 

Before Byleth even reached the door Rhea could smell him from down the hallway. The sweet scent of cinnamon increased as the young professor neared her door. When he opened the door, Rhea smiled sweetly at him as he walked into the room. “Hello dear professor. I have summoned you for a brief discussion with you.” This was her greatest creation, a child made from her own very blood and her mother’s crest stone. Jeralt had no clue that she experimented on his child, well how could he when he left the delivery room? Even when the child’s mother was near death, Rhea deep down used her for her own ambition and saved the child’s life. In truth she was very happy that the woman decided to save the child rather than herself, what a noble woman’s heart she had.

Rhea did have a hidden regret though, when she heard that a fire killed the child it turned her soul upside down. All that progress to get her mother back was gone. It was then that she completely gave up with the resurrection of her mother; instead burying herself in landfills of work. However when she received word that the child was indeed alive, Rhea felt her soul returning to her body. She was delighted to hear that he was alive, that her experiment didn’t collapse in flames like everyone was told. This time for certain she wasn’t going to waste this chance to be with her mother again. “My, My. There is no need to have such a distance between us two, don’t be so nervous around me. I don’t bite. To prove it to you, here come a little closer.” She beckoned the young man to come a little closer.

Rhea was sitting on her cushions, underneath was the bench; it was big enough to fit two people. When he was in grabbing range, she swung her arms around his neck and lightly led his head downwards. Byleth was caught off guard by her sudden motion, he completely landed head first into her lap. Rhea didn’t seem to mind this, even a smile managed to make its way onto her face. “When it’s just the two of us in this room, there is no need to address me as the Archbishop. Just Rhea will do.” She slowly combed through his air. ‘Mother, don't think I won’t let you go so easily. This hair is just like yours when I was a child, so light that I always imagined it was a big cloud.’ Rhea mindlessly thought to herself. Byleth didn’t know what to think about Rhea’s actions.

On his trip down he took a big inhale of her scent, a lily flower, and almost gagged. It smelled terrible, like something died in the room with her. Something deep inside was telling him to get away from her but he couldn’t leave as she was holding him down. He agreed with this entity and yet he still couldn't move from his spot in her lap. This was clearly a power struggle between the two, despite the lacking intensity of the battlefield. “Understood.” Again Byleth kept his answer short, searching his mind for Sothis’s aura. The young entity had strangely went back to sleep once entering the room, it was as if she was under a spell. There was no chance that he could ask her for guidance against the mysterious entity that was Rhea. “Arch- Rhea, what did you ask for me for? Seteth said it was an emergency?” He quickly corrected himself, making a mental note of his blunder.

“That is incorrect sweet child, I just wanted to check up on you is all. Seteth completely misinterpreted my instructions, you have my apologizes for that.” She simply lost herself in her thoughts. "Oh dear, I shouldn't call you a child should I? Yes you are already old enough to be considered an adult, dear Professor." Rhea softly chucked, slightly blushing at the male below her. The two stayed like that for awhile, minutes slowly ticked by as the hours went on. Even with the occasional chatter between the two, it felt like an eternity being there. The entire time Byleth was feeling highly uncomfortable just by being near Rhea; it was making him sick. “Ah it is getting rather late professor, you should go back to your dorm already. There are only a few minutes of sunlight left before the night comes, make sure to get loads of rest tonight.” Rhea watched as the sun slowly slipped behind the tall buildings of the monastery and disappeared.

The grip on his head softened up, allowing Byleth to raise up off her lap. His mind was a mix of emotions, he really wanted to hurt her because she touched him without even a single warning. Something inside of him just wanted to rip her head off her shoulders but at the same time he wanted to get the hell away from her. After a few moments of peace Byleth managed to keep such violent tendencies down, instead letting his bangs hide his eyes. He didn’t want to alert her to his present emotions concerning her, instead he walked far away from her. The further away he got from her, the better his mood became. “Goodnight Rhea, I hope you have a pleasant night truly.” He quickly slipped out of the room, not bothering to hear what she had to say to him.

“Truly like father, like son. Hm, I see where you got your spunk from professor.” Rhea whispered as she saw him duck out of the room, the door softly shut behind him. Rhea only stood at the door until she sensed his energy completely disappearing from her wing of the building. ‘Soon, very soon I will have you mother. And no one will take you away from me, I promise you that.’ The smile on her face slowly warped into a smirk. Her eyes were concealed by the moonlight slowly leaking into the room, although one would see slits in the middle of her eyes if they looked closely. “I will definitely take **you **back. Together we will rebuild our lost race, I swear it.” This was said in a distorted voice, hidden with a mixture of her human form and dragon form.

Sensing a being enter the room, Rhea didn’t even motion to address the person. She was expecting them to come, although not too soon as she had hoped. It was seconds before she lifted her hand to acknowledged the new person, that was their signal to speak. “Ah I was wondering when you were going to show up.” Leaning to the side, Rhea looked into the shadows of her room. The figure immediately bowed before the sovereign, keeping with a respect filled tone as she addressed the archbishop. “Lady Se- No, forgive me I shouldn’t address you as such here. Lady Rhea, we have located two more of our lost kin. That makes 10 total, excluding you and the great ones.” The voice sounded feminine. They talked the rest of the way in a hushed voice, often to keep their secrets away from prying ears. To what they were talking about was only known to themselves, the rest of the campus was already asleep.

What sort of evil plan did Rhea have in store for Byleth?

* * *

Unbeknownst to Byleth about what occurred with Rhea, he had made it back to his dorm unscathed. He was mentally drained from Rhea’s little emergency and would rather want to go to bed. Stripping himself of his shirt and pants, he laid bare except for his black shorts covering his most sensitive parts. "Ah finally back at my room! Time for bed." Byleth walked into his bed, climbing inside the warm bed and immediately drifting off to sleep. Today had been an exhausting day, all he wanted to do was sleep. A strand of silver caught his eye briefly before it disappeared into the air.

Byleth failed to recognize the faint smell of vanilla feather his nose before sleep completely took him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading again, the amount of support I've been getting is really nice. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for all the sweet messages you all left. For that reason, I decided to write a bit more this chapter so it wouldn't feel as 'boring' compared to chapter 1. Also I will try to write more Byleth x El next chapter~


	3. Bedroom Mixup

** Byleth  
**

The early morning rays shone through the windows, basking everything it touched in a golden light. Even the beautiful girl laying next to him was bathed in the sunlight. Byleth slowly opened one eye to see a face full of long silver hair. ‘Wait beautiful girl?’ Byleth thought, reaching out to touch the long hair in front of him. It felt too real to be apart of his dream, the young teacher quickly shot up out of his bed. That seemed to wake up the girl next to him as she quickly sprang up out of bed once realizing another person occupied it alongside her.

Edelgard was wearing an oversized shirt that came down to her knees.“Teacher, what are you doing in my room?!” Her face was completely flustered, holding her chest in embarrassment. Just how did her teacher come into her room? She was a light sleeper after years of attempted assassinations and yet she didn’t even hear him come into the room. “Edelgard, take a good look around. What are you doing in my room?” Byleth stood up, letting her get a good look at the room surrounding them. It took her awhile to process why he was sleeping in her bed and for what reason.

When she realized that this indeed wasn’t her room, the young students immediately turned around to address her mistake. It wasn’t like her to forget things such as this, she figured that her teacher would be completely upset with her due to this blunder of a mistake. Hopefully he wouldn't speak of this to the other students. “A-Ah… I think I got the rooms mixed up teacher. It was completely my fault and lack of judgement, I take full responsibility for this.” Edelgard mentally scolded herself for being incompetent. She was so dreadfully exhausted from her nightmares plaguing her sleep that she accidentally came into Teacher’s room instead of her own.

Even own her eyes were seemingly dead, black bags were ever more obvious underneath her eyes. However that didn’t stop her from gazing upon her teacher’s body. She saw those chiseled abs and not too muscular arms were hiding underneath his regular clothes. ‘Oh… just imagine those muscles rubbing me… Eck! Snap out of it Edelgard, you can’t imagine your teacher like that!’ She scolded herself in her thoughts. Even though she didn’t want to think about him like that, just by being near him caused her body to heat up.

Her face became beat red as a result. Feeling drool slowly roll down the corner of her mouth, Edelgard quickly turned away from her teacher’s half naked body with shame. Did she perhaps become attracted to his muscles? Byleth noticed this but chose not to comment on it. “Sorry I became a little distracted, what were you saying?” Even then she shouldn’t allow Byleth to see such a shameful side of her but she couldn’t stop thinking about her teacher in that kind of light. Sure she had complicated feelings to him, albeit she was interested in him ever since he saved her, but that was all there was. Edelgard couldn’t afford to catch feelings for him, not when she had a kingdom to run soon.

Byleth stood upright, folding his arms close to his chest while looking down at his student. He wasn’t interrogating her, rather he was truthfully wondering what was going through her head. “Just what were you doing last night? You couldn’t have possibly slipped up and “accidentally” entered my room because your room is located across the building.” The look on her face displayed all that he needed to know; she had lied to him. He was awaiting to what possible explanation she had for him. Edelgard was truly a bad liar, she assumed that he already saw through her.

“O-Oh… I went to Professor Manneula because I was feeling rather sickly last night. I suppose it was just an upset stomach is all.” Edelgard trying playing it off, hoping that her teacher wouldn’t make a fuss. Byleth remained silent however, whether or not the girl believed that he was indifferent was up to her. “D-Did we do anything last night?” Her voice was soft, subtle compared to her rather proudful appearance she always gave. Byleth savored this new personality of hers that he could only see, he suspected that she didn’t even know she was showing such a cute face. ’Where is this girl’s mind going? Obviously somewhere rather lewd.’ Byleth thought this, watching his student’s ears redden. Feeling his heated gaze on her Edelgard, her blush deepened to that of crimson. 

To prove this even her scent changed into a mouth watering aroma--- an overwhelming force of control. Both her increased scent and her redding ears gave him the urge to tease her, rather pin her down and devour her. Devour? Byleth laughed at the thought, his eyes glanced over to the girl in his room. No he would **break** her. He felt that sudden dangerous urge deeply in his body, like yesterday expect it was more servier. Byleth’s body slowly leaning into hers, guiding them towards the wall. He was pinning her onto the wall, one hand over her head to keep her from leaving. Edelgard made no attempt to leave, rather how could she when her teacher was using all his muscles to keep her in place.

Of course he was strangely gentle, never asserting too much force on her body to leave bruises but at the same time enough strength so she wouldn’t struggle. Ah was it her or was the room heating up? Edelgard couldn’t tell, only she was completely consumed by her teacher’s actions. Byleth slowly began to lean closer to her face, their lips just inches apart from each other. Time seemed to slow down between the two, both just stared at each other’s eyes. ‘Is he going to kiss me?’ She felt flustered, nausea even, since her teacher was just staring at her. It was awkward, just what was her teacher trying to do? Deep down her heart wished that he would kiss her, a hidden desire among her chaotic mind.

Edelgard wasn’t used to such a fierce, possessive expression dawned in their teacher’s eyes. His eyes were raw, almost animalistic, yet they held a soft gentleness to them as well. They were so captivating that she wished that they would swallow her whole, leaving only her mind intact. “T-Teacher.” Hearing Edelgard whimper was what broke the camel's back, rather it brought him back to his senses. Byleth immediately backed his face away from her lips, instead setting a proper distance between the two. “No, I just came into my room and slept. I don’t touch students nor would I ever develop a relationship with a student, being with a student would complicate things on the battlefield. When in battle I wouldn’t be able to think straight without worrying about them. Emotions are a dangerous thing left unchecked after all so I would rather not get involved with other students.” Byleth explained, keeping his poker face in check.

“So let me ask again, what were you doing last night?” His violet eyes stared completely into her own. “I… I....” Edelgard was at a loss for words once in her life. ‘Was he just playing with her?’ She thought this, looking at the enigma that was her teacher. It could be possible that this was a test for endurance by Teacher but she really did feel a little spark between the two of them. She was a little confused on how she should act in this situation. Funny how she was always prideful, even well poised but one action from her teacher and she was sent into a lackluster woman.

Edelgard wanted to die in that moment, her teacher probably thought she was a lewd girl now. Seeing her reluctant to answer his question, Byleth let her hands go and instead sat on his bed. She took the time to compose herself, walking over to the opposite end of the room. Edelgard was completely at a loss of words by these turn of events. His eyes were still on her however, trailing her as she walked away. Deep red blush was plastered on her face as she quickly tried to calm down her rapidly beating heart. “You don’t need to answer that. Just make sure you have a proper reason next time to enter my room.” It took her some time to understand exactly what he had said.

‘Teacher clearly is giving me permission to come back to his room again right?’ Edelgard thought this when she heard him speak. “N-Next time?! You’re not going to kick me out? Yell at me? Discipline me?” Edelgard blinked before reached down to get her school uniform from last night. She was so ashamed for herself, that she resorted to acting as if she had the personality of Bernadetta. “Of course I would but we’re already running late to class. If you don’t want me to punish you then you must make sure to get dressed first.” She still hadn’t changed her clothes from the time they woke up. “Fine, just stay in the corner and don’t look!” His room didn’t have a bathroom so she would have to change in his room. It was silly that the bathrooms weren’t located in the dorms but that’s just how the place was built. 

If one must use the bathroom then they simply have to head to the community bathhouse, before they reach the lockers, the bathrooms are located behind the door on the right. “Understood.” Byleth turned around and faced his wall. Just the mere thought of seeing Edelgard in a bath towel made Byleth tense up. ‘Must resist. You are stronger willed than that, don’t fall for temptation.’ Byleth reminded himself again and again while inhaling her scent. Just behind his back, he could hear the rustling of clothes before the scent became even stronger. This was truly too much for him, even with his decision at staying away from her and keeping an arm’s reach. Just how ill fated was this for him?

It felt like an eternity before his students gave him the confirmation to turn around. “Done, thanks for holding Teacher-” Edelgard was interrupted by the older male. “Go to class.” This was his only reply, watching as the young girl walked out of his dorm. ‘Impure thoughts be gone. Impure thoughts be gone.’ He thought this while watching her leave. The moment she left, Byleth heard his female companion’s voice. _ My, My. You really are the charmer, already had a girl sleeping over? What a player my host is. _Byleth heard Sothis invade his inner thoughts. 

‘It’s not like that.’ He constantly denied the fact that he was interested in Edelgard a few moments ago. There was no need for Sothis to pry into his relationships with his students, it was a evasion of privacy. Sothis was one to see matters of the heart well between two people, even more so when they were connected together._ Well to me it looked like you wanted her. You are such a fool when it comes to the matters of the heart. _ Sothis teased him, mimicking the way he held Edelgard on the wall. ‘I do not want her. It’s because of my body under a sort of illness that I’m acting this way. Did any of your memory come back?’

Sothis stated silent for a moment, her gaze hidden behind her own wall of thoughts._ No I just remember my name… but! The thing you are going through sounds familiar, maybe my memory with come back when I see more? _Sothis stated this. Something about this whole situation was strange, she sensed a similar energy from this student girl but yet it’s different. It’s not pure energy like what Byleth has, instead it feels almost nonexistent-- like it’s getting corrupted from the inside. Byleth left his room finally after getting dressed himself. 

Locking the door behind him, the professor walked towards the Black Eagles Classroom. _ Strange… _ Sothis couldn’t put her finger on it. Her crest was an inferior energy but yet it was the same. Even with replaying the scene she saw before, she didn’t recall seeing the girl react to Byleth’s hidden aura. _ And you! What is up with your dark thoughts towards her? Are you trying to scare her away? _ Sothis glared angrily at Byleth. 

‘I try to resist them, I just-’ Byleth winced when the girl started yelling in his head. Passing students eyed him with concern when they saw him wince without a cause. To keep himself under the radar, he quickly acted like he stubbed his toe on his door. Eventually the students passed by him without incident. _ I swear you don’t even try to show emotions! If you keep this up then you’re going to lose the chance to get a girlfriend! _Sothis clearly sounded upset about Byleth and Edelgard’s situation.

* * *

**Edelgard**

Edelgard was lucky no one saw her leaving the professor's room. It would’ve been difficult to explain herself once they figured out the reason why she had been in his room, the consequences would’ve been eminence. Instead of heading towards her own dorm room, she slipped into their classroom just when Hubert walked into the room. The others were already in the room chatting among themselves, each in their own little world. Edelgard was secretly pleased to even see Bernadetta out of her room so early in the morning. She assumed either Ferninard or Dorthea convinced her to come out of her room for the day. For that she would praise them silently in her heart.

Caspar and Linhardt were talking amongst themselves in the corner, probably talking about their fathers. She did hear that they had a rather sudden rivalry between each other but their sons seemed to get along with each other well. Edelgard was pleased to see everyone enjoying themselves so early in the morning. She was glad that she didn’t need to fuss at anyone for being late to class. “Lady Edelgard, I have been searching for you all morning? Where have you been?” He was as tedious as ever, walking beside his liege with diligence. Hubert as always was protective of his master, following her swiftly wherever she goes.

“I was simply sightseeing by the water fountain Hubert. I hope I didn’t worry you too much.” Edelgard replied, walking to her seat and sitting down. She couldn’t help but think of the events earlier this morning, light pink blush quickly appeared on her face. Edelgard immediately looked the other way so Hubert wouldn’t notice her face. “How do you know someone wouldn’t attack you?” Hubert hissed while sitting down beside her. ‘Oh dear! I can’t get the image of his muscles out of my head. I’m truly a despicable student.’ Edelgard thought this, scolding herself in the process. “Lady Edelgard are you feeling alright? You have a little red in your cheeks.” Hubert noticed the way his emperor was acting.

Despite his overbearing demeanor, he was truly worried about the future Emperor of the Adrestian Empire. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed Ferdinand break away from his conversation between Petra and Doretha, instead shifting his gaze towards their desk. “A-Ah I’m fine Hubert, no need to ask about me. Besides who would be dumb enough to plan an attack on the Monastery in broad daylight? Especially with the knights of Seiros are watching over us?” Edelgard shifted her attention towards the approaching Ferdinand. He seemed to be in good spirits after chatting with the other girls in the room. “They wouldn’t even make it past the front gate.” Hubert was about to respond when he quickly cut himself off when Ferdinand approached the table. 

"Ah Edelgard, there you are! We should do some training after class!” He pressed a grin down at his class leader. Edelgard didn’t seem to mind too much, even giving him the attention that he wanted from her. “Oh my, Ferdinand. What did you have in mind for today’s outing?” The young noble couldn’t deny she wasn’t curious as to what her classmate cooked up this time. He was always competing with her on every little thing he could come up with; this even had a lasting effect on her to the point where it started to become amusing.

"Well I was thinking we could go out and slay some Demonic Beasts-” Ferdinand was quickly interrupted by another person. “Edelgard!” Standing at the doorway was the Golden Deer’s leader Claude. “Oh Claude, what a pleasant surprise. To what do we owe this honor to?” Edelgard redirected her attention from Ferdinand to the approaching Claude. Hubert grimace and lowered a few curses under his breath as he watched Claude enter their room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone, sorry it took so long to update this story but I've been working on a new story to make up for it. Thank you again for reading 'A Flickering Flame' and I hope you continue reading~
> 
> I have a new story out that contains everyone's favorite trickster, Claude and everyone's favorite smart child, Lysithea! Here is the link to the first chapter, feel free to tell me what you think about it in that story's comments:  
https://archiveofourown.org/works/20476136


	4. Disaster

**Edelgard**

“Hey I’m looking for Teach, have you seen him?” Claude’s easy going manner was ever present as he spoke to Edelgard. She, for once, was surprised that he even came into the classroom, as he always stayed with his own house branch to make small talk. “The professor? How come?” Hubert inserted himself in the conversation, weary that Claude might have a trick up his sleeve. Edelgard didn't seem to think so, rather she still held her guard up against him but her gut was telling her he meant no harm. 

One can't be too sure when a trickster is lurking about after all. “I think I saw the professor in Jeralt’s room. They had the door closed though, so I don’t know if they are still talking.” Dorothea said this, swaying her hips while she was walking towards the group. Benadetta was hiding underneath her desk, scared of the other house members in the room. Meanwhile Petra was trying to cox her out of her hiding place, even offering to spread the day with her if she preferred that. 

“Dorothea…” Hubert turned to address the brunette. He was about to start his antics but Edelgard put up her hand, silencing him on the matter. There was no need for him to start his so called “bitching” so early in the morning, especially since they had other house members in the room. Edelgard secretly thanked Dorothea for the word; she overheard her complain about Hubert to Bernadetta one day so she decided in her heart to remember it. 

“Thanks for the info. I think I’ll just wait for him to come back, if that’s okay with the little princess of there.” Claude waved his hand, headed towards an empty seat at the desk across them. Edelgard was wary of him being in the room but she shut those feelings down for the sake of harmony with the others. “Oh what are you talking about? I believe I heard the words Sir Jeralt?” Leonie walked into the room. 

‘Of course another person wants to come into the conversation! Does everyone want to come into our classroom today?’ Edelgard thought this while watching Leonie walk through the door. It was odd that everyone really wanted to hang out in her classroom today, as opposed to the cafeteria like yesterday. Is there a homing beacon on their roof or something? Was that why everyone wanted to be in here?

Suddenly an explosion erupted outside, followed by yet another as they inched closer towards their classrooms. “Gah!” Slyvain’s voice could be heard as he was thrown into the classroom, landing on Ferdinand with a rather loud thud. His training spear was sent flying to the other end of the room, where it was silently emitting smoke. “Ow… Sylvain, what are you doing man?” The orange haired noble winced as he pushed the redhead off his body. 

Sylvain gladly pushed himself off of him and pushed the dirt off of his clothes. “It’s not my fault! Lysithea got mad at my flirting and she threw me in here!” His uniform was smoking from a recent fire spell but he would live. There wasn’t any notable burns or scraps on his jacket, only he was rather sore from his body slamming into Ferdinand. “Claude I'm not done with you yet! Come on out already!!!’ Lysithea’s voice yelled as another explosion erupted in the background. 

“Wow someone seems really angry about you.” Caspar said this, while glancing at the door. “What’s all this racket….?” The explosions had woken up Lindhart from his slumber. “I believe that Claude has managed to reach a new level of passion with Lysithea.” Petra said this with confidence. She was oblivious to the explosions happening in the background. “Ah Petra, I think you mean anger? Eldie, how was your morning today? I believe I saw something special this morning.” Dorothea patted her back while looking at their class leader.

Dorothea was hinting towards the fact that she saw Edelgard leaving the Professor's room, with a rather evident blush on her face. “My morning was fine, as usual. I have no idea what you are talking about.” Edelgard didn’t let Dorothea get under her skin. “Petra, how did your study session last night with Dorothea go?” At this motion Petra slightly blushed before laughing. 

“Edelgard sure knows how to tell jokes.” Petra was cracking up laughing. Her laughter was followed by a loud, high pitched yelp before Marinne was thrown across the doorway, still clutching her own diary in hand. “What. did. you. do?” Edelgard glared at Claude, “Yeah Claude, I’ve never seen Lysithea this mad before. Must’ve been something you did.” Sylvain noted, rubbing his sore head. It was a first for him to see the young mage like this, even through out the time they spent together training and getting to know each other. 

To him there was only one person that could make her like this; and he was standing right in front of him. “Well… I might’ve told a wee too many ghost story jokes and now she’s angry at me. And… I might’ve slipped some sleeping herbs into her drink.” He said that last part quietly so no one could hear what he said. He only did that since she just wouldn’t go to sleep last night no matter how many times he told her to. How was he supposed to know that those sleeping herbs were going to make her over sleep.

“Claude, might I add you are a complete idiot. I respect you but sometimes even you get on everyone’s nerves.” Leonie stated, folding her arms. A rather angry Lysithea marched right into the room, walking past Sylvain and straight to Claude. “Claude I am angry at you! How dare you say that I belong in a child's school?! I am no mere child!” Lysithea’s voice was full of anger as she hissed at Claude. To say that she is anger is putting it lightly, she right now is beyond pissed.

Claude admits that he used a few too many ghost stories last night, coupled with a few child jokes to the point where it truly made her angry. Luckily for him, she didn’t think too much about her drink last night and was focusing in on his jokes. “Alright! I’m sorry, just don’t try blasting us with any spells in here! I’ll do anything, just please don’t kill us all.” Claude raised his hands in self-defense. “Hmpf, I have enough pride not to turn you to ashes right now..” Lysithea stated, folding her arms while tapping her foot. She went into deep thought over the matter. 

She didn’t expect to see that Claude out of everyone in their house would try to come with a ceasefire for her. If she was honest with herself, it completely surprised her knowing his own blatant easy going personality. This didn’t mean that she was completely done with being made at him. “You’ll do anything huh? I’ll hold you to that in the future then.” She mumbled, her energy from earlier almost immediately leaving her body.

“Lysithea! How dare you attack his highness like that?!” Everyone looked to a now angry Dedue at the door. Edelgard immediately stood up, causing Hubert to follow his liege as well. He was followed by a calm Dimitri on his heels. He was angry because Lysithea attacked his highness Dimitri was trying to calm him down, explaining that he was the one that asked Lysithea not to hold back. He was only trying to test his own limits when it came to simple magic spells, however he misjudged the backfire of the spell. 

“May I help you? If you need something then you can address me firstly.” Claude stood in front of Lysithea, as if he was protecting her. Lysithea remained silent, slightly scared of what Dedue was going to do to her once he got his hands on her. “Your mage attacked his highness without warning!” His voice bounced off the walls as he yelled. “Dedue. Like I’ve been saying it was consensual, she had my permission. I am fine, there is no need for you to be so aggressive towards her. Lysithea, I am sorry for Dedue’s actions.” Dimitri tried reasoning with him, much to no avail. He was stubborn in his ways, even to the point of shoving off his own liege’s words.

“I don’t mind.” Lysithea nodded as to accept his apology, not before Claude spoke up. “Yeah you might want to listen to good ole Dimitri on this one.” Claude’s eyes slightly narrowed as he looked at the big brute in front of him. This resulted in Dedue kicking over a chair, while glaring straight into Claude’s face. “Dedue, stop it already!” Dimitri tried pushing him away from the Golden Deer members. His grey eyes blazing into Claude’s own brown, both men were stubborn enough to not back away from this challenge. 

“I will listen to his highness about this however I can’t let such a blight on his highness pass.” Dedue had to avenge his house leader’s honor while Calude was defending his house mate’s literal skin. “Hey you can’t just barge in here like this and act as if you own the place!” Caspar was approaching their group, intending to resolve this with physical confrontation if need be. 

Dedue might be stronger and more well built than he was but there was no way he was going to allow him to pick on Lysithea if he had anything to do with it. In his mind Lysithea was like a child to him, she had no means of defending herself in a regular ole fist fight if it came to that. “Caspar. Leave.” His house leader spoke up, leaving a warning tone in her voice. Edelgard didn’t want any of her classmates to be hurt in the confrontation between Golden Deer and Blue Lion Houses. 

Using hand signals she motioned for Dorothea to go get the Professor. Dorothea nodded before walking past both of the rival houses and out the door. “This is a matter between Golden Deer members, you do not have any say in this matter.” Leonie stepped up between Claude and Dedue, she would defend her housemates from his rage if need be. Since Dedue was so loyal to Dimitri he wouldn’t dare to go against his commands but Leonie couldn’t take this chance. 

“Oh, I didn’t think an orange lemon could have a say in the matter.” Felix was snarky with his comment. Felix made everyone aware of his presence as he walked through the door. In his hand was his training sword, neatly spared of any cracks from their training session earlier. “You all need to leave, I will not allow anyone to fight in my classroom. We can settle this outside if you would like.” Edelgard’s voice was prompt and quick as she addressed both houses. 

There was no need to get their classroom’s destroyed over a little dispute between classes. If anything they could settle this matter outside of class or even during the Battle of Lion and Eagle coming up in a matter of months. “Oh is her highness getting upset?” Felix mocked, glaring at both Dimitri and Edelgard. “Can it nave.” Hubert stood in front of his liege, defending her. “Oh what is these lap dogs going to do to me?” Felix mocked both of them, earning a glare from Hubert.

Just then the professor, along with Jeralt and an out of breath Dorothea, walked through the door. Everyone froze in their place, somewhere behind them a chair fell out of place. His gaze rested on Edelgard before looking around the room examining his other students. “Uh… why does it smell like burned wood?” Jeralt looked at all the students in the classroom, confused about the smell. Everyone’s attention drifted back towards Sylvain’s smoking training lance, which was now starting to burn with a small fire. 

Syvlain’s eyes widened before he took off his jacket and began fanning the flames, trying to put them out. Lysithea simply rolled her eyes as she raised her hand and conjured a bubble of water, sending it towards his spear. The bubble popped over his head, drenching both Sylvain and his spear but effectively extinguishing the flames. “Lysithea, Look what you did to my favorite spear!” Picking up his now wet spear, he examined the damage from the fire.

His spear was utterly ruined, the flames almost snapped his spear in half. This was his first ever spear since entering the academy and now it was ruined because of a little tantra from Lysithea. “Well it’s your fault in the first place!” The two began to argue back and forth about his spear. “You know I’ll just let you handle this. Be easy on your students, and remember what we talked about this morning.” Byleth nodded before directing his attention towards his students. 

“Lysithea, Sylvain stop arguing! You two are acting like little children.” The professor scolded them both. They immediately silenced themselves, moving themselves away from each other. “Everyone else get out of my classroom and meet at the training yard. Now.” Byleth’s voice could cut paper. Everyone scrambled out the room and headed towards the training yard.

* * *

**Rhea**

Rhea wanted to discipline the students first when she heard about today’s events from Seteth. This was why she and Seteth were walking to the training yard, hoping to speak with the students in question. “Lady Rhea, I hope you won't be too harsh on the students responsible. They are still children, after all.” Seteth spoke, lightly keeping his voice respectful. 'Well there is plenty of time to correct such mistakes.' She smiled at the thought.

Rhea slowed her pace, walking gracefully with a little sway of her steps. “Do not worry I will be humble with my judgements. They haven’t wronged in the church at all so there is no need for any harsh punishments from my hand.” Just then half of the Blue Lion House, Dimitri, Dedue, Sylvain, and Annette; ran past the two figureheads of the church. “Aw man, why do we have to do this?! 20 laps my ass!” Sylvain mumbled this in a low breath. 

He was not particularly thrilled to having to do so many laps, he would rather go on a date with a girl by then. “Would you rather do what the Golden Deer, or even the Black Eagles, are doing?” Dimitri said this with a stern face. As usual the person that got them in this mess was silent, only pumping his arms to keep up a pace with the other. “Why did I have to get dragged into this?” Annette was not an athlete, she couldn’t keep up stamina like the others. “Because we’re a team, and besides Mercedes and the others are 3 laps ahead of us.” 

“Wow-” They cut their conversation short when they realized that Rhea was standing in front of them. “Oh! Good morning Archbishop Rhea. Good Morning Seteth.” The students kept their greets brief as they immediately took off down the opposite end of the hallway. Rhea was enamoured by the student’s demeanor to correct them about not using her title in greetings. “Good point.” Syvlain stated this as they disappeared around the corner.

The two immortals continued down the hallway, taking the time to greet the passing knights, as they neared the training yard. They could hear the sound of wood hitting wood and the yells of their students. There was no need to worry however, this was normal to the training yard as Rhea visited over many times during her time here in the church. It would be fine to see what the professor was doing with his students.

When they fully went through the door, the pair was completely baffled at the sight before them. Byleth was in an attack position, the rest of his Black Eagle students were spread out around the field headed towards him. “Begin!” This was the only word Byleth uttered before chaos ensued. Edelgard was the first to attack, swinging her training axe down, in an attempt to his shoulder. Her teacher easily blocked it, quickly grasping her wrist while effectively disarming her axe.

Her axe was quickly discarded, thrown a few yards away. The princess quickly adjusted, bringing out her wooden dagger and slashing upwards. Byleth wasn’t surprised by this tactic, he quickly jumped back to avoid her swing. Seeing that his liege needed assistance with her attacks, Hubert began conjuring spells to give magic support from a distance. However none of the spells connected, instead Byleth deflected them right off his sword. ‘They work well together.’ Byleth then headed straight for Hubert, knocking him off balance with a swing of his sword. Using the sword’s momentum he spun around before kicking the male student straight in his chest, sending him flying into a pillar.

While he was focused on Hubert, Edelgard managed to get behind him with a surprise attack. This failed however as Byleth immediately turned around, grasping her wrist and spun her around. He locked her arm behind her back, slowly putting pressure on her knees to make her bend. He was intending to knock her out with a hit to the neck, it would be holding back his true strength but still effective. Her neck was exposed, in a submissive manner that made Byleth pause with hesitation in his eyes. "Hold still…" The professor suddenly felt his mouth go dry as he continued to stare down at his student's neck.

Byleth could feel the saliva slowly connect into his mouth as he dreamed about Edelgard. Thoughts of biting her and claiming her as his own was flooding into his mind. While the professor was distracted her neck, Edelgard managed to escape his hold by throwing dirt into his face, by using her other free hand, backing up from her professor a considerable distance. "Gah… Teacher, that was highly inappropriate. Please contain yourself." A tinge of blush was evident on her face, her ears were dyed red. Edelgard had clearly felt his hot breath nearing her neck as he held her in his arm lock; she still felt the tingles of her hair raising up.

However, no one seemed to notice their interaction with each other except Rhea. She remained silent in this matter, her face ever stoic, the only evidence of her emotions was the fingernail marks embedded into the wooden railing. "Good you're learning at an exceptional rate, you can hold your own quite well on a 1-on-1 fight. I do commend you on thinking outside of the box Edelgard." Byleth began wiping the dirt out of his face, he managed to close his eyes before the dirt reached them.

He was thankful by her quick moves, it snapped him out of his trance. Byleth then began to go on the offensive, skillfully swinging his sword, while pushing Edelgard to be on the defensive. She was handling it pretty well, blocking his sword swings with her little dagger. “Dorothea, Bernadetta. I need you two to be on the offensive, though please try not to hit me.” Taking this time to issue orders while she had the upper hand, Edelgard began dodging his attacks in turn.

“Hey Bernie, time to shine right? We can’t let Eldie down after all.” Dorothea mused as she cast a flame spell in her hand. “I-I don’t want to be here!” Bernie’s meek demeanor was ever present as she stood next to Dorothea. Despite this she held an arrow notched in her bow, as she nervously aimed at her professor. The first arrow widely missed its mark, hitting the pillar on the opposite end of the yard.

“It’s okay Bernie, try your best!” Dorothea threw her spell as well, harmlessly bouncing off of the ground. It was a failed spell, resulting in the fireball becoming rubber like and harmless. ‘At this rate everyone’s going to need weeks to improve.’ Byleth thought watching his students struggle with basic practice. “Edelgard, break.” This was her queue to take a break from practice. Edelgard nodded, before walking off to sit down in the shade. 

There was no need to worry about Edelgard, she was leagues ahead of others in terms of battle strength and knowledge. This made him confident in her own abilities, allowing him to focus on her fellow students. Byleth headed over to the two girls, who were still trying to practice their aim. “Ah hello Professor.” Dorothea greeted him with a wave, Bernadetta was hiding behind Dorothea. “Dorothea, I’m not particularly skilled in magic so you might want to ask the other professors about it.” Byleth was truthful with his statement. He could only take them so far before they would just have to train for themselves to figure out the rest.

Byleth turned to address Bernadetta, his hand still on his sword. “Bernadetta just imagine me as a big target. Would it help if you imagined me as a demonic beast?“ He asked. In truth he was worried about her falling behind the others, so in theory if she imagined him as someone or something she was scared of then it should work. “D-Do I have to?” Bernadetta was fearful of her teacher, to her he was like a big stone wall she could never climb.

“Yes you do, now give me your best shot.” Byleth had full confidence that if anyone could actually get a bullseyes then it would be Bernadetta. Rhea took her mind off of things and looked at Seteth on her right, who was concentrating on the battle. “Do you think she’ll make it?” He only looked up when he noticed that Lady Rhea was staring at him, “With the Professor’s talents, I don’t see why not.” Rhea responded back, looking down at the group.

Benadetta closed her eyes, and with shaky hands, let the bowstring go. “A-Ah go away you monster!” Benadetta aimed true with her eyes wide open, her arrow whirled towards Byleth head. He quickly moved his head to the side, the arrow narrowly missing his ear. “Good job, Bernadetta. Just try to work on your aim, a few hundred round should do. Oh! And, I asked you for the chest. Not my head.” Byleth stated this. He then bent down to the ground, moving towards his student’s legs.

"Okay correct your pose here and here.” Byleth was guiding Bernadetta’s position, moving her legs to correct center. It made Rhea a bit jealous but she hid it well, chalking it up as only training purposes. “Dorothea, come at me as well. I want to test your magic abilities as well.” Byleth turned to address his other student. "Ah okay, I'll try my best." Dorothea channeled another fireball into her hand, trying to concentrate on the spell even more. "Here you go professor." The brunette let the fireball out of her hand, sending it towards her teacher.

The professor was ready however, taking a step back; easily dodging her attack. The spell flew past his body, colliding with the ground, creating a big cloud of dust. "Ha!" Using the cloud of dirt as cover, Edelgard suddenly appeared next to him, aiming her axe at his body. 'When did she-' Byleth didn't need to think too much, all he had to do was dodge. "Edel-" He was caught off again by her axe, she swung it down aiming for his head.“Fedinand, wait for Caspar to make you an opening before you attack! Caspar, go for his feet!” Edelgard’s voice swept across the battlefield. To say she had a commanding presence was an understatement, she was visibly glowing with the potential of a leader.

The way she ordered her classmates without even batting an eye was becoming of Emperor, she was truly of Adrestian lineage. “Edelgard make a good leader.” Seteth noted this to himself, joking down notes in his head. Rhea thought this as well, albeit a little bitter about the past. Then again there was no way to change that certain part of the past, with her mother here she would rectify that mistake. There was no way that _ she _ was going to snach her mother away from her again. Rhea declared this in her heart while looking down at Edelgard.

Caspar did as he was told, aiming for his teacher’s feet to catch him off guard. “Haaaa!” He roared, engaging in hand to hand combat with Byleth using his gauntlets. Byleth easily dodged his attacks while keeping on the offensive as well. “You lack balance, try to shift that in your favor. While you are punching, don’t overextend yourself. This leaves you open to attacks on your sides, always be on your guard.” He continued to discipline him as they were fighting. 

Caspar listened to his teacher's words, taking them into meaningful strides. He improved this way, taking the chance to fix his posture while gradually gaining speed in his punches. “As the son of Duke Aegir, I will definitely surpass Edelgard.” With this Ferdinand stepped forward, training lance in hand, as he charged towards their professor. “Wait Ferdinand! Stop!” Edelgard’s voice exclaimed, however to no avail did it reach the orange haired student.

He rushed in before it was time, causing him to run into Caspar just as he bent his elbow back. They both collided with each other, slamming into the ground with a loud thud. "Ow…" Caspar and Ferdinand groaned as they were spiraled across the ground. "Idiots. Complete Idiots." Hubert mumbled this under his breath as he looked at the two nobles on the ground. "Lindhart, if you would please come and heal them." Edelgard signaled the young green haired noble to come over.

"Alright." Lindhart made his way obet to the two boys. "Ferdinand you should've waited before rushing in to the battle. Both of you could've easily gotten killed if this was a real fight, please get serious here." The professor sheathed his practice sword into his belt, looking down at his two students. Lindhart was already sitting next to them, his hands covered in a pale green light. Other than a bloody nose from Ferdinand, they seemed to be okay in the long run.

"Professor, it would seem that Lady Rhea has been watching our class for quite some time." Hubert mused, glancing up at the balcony where the two immortals were standing. Rhea has no choice but to greet them since she had been outed by Hubert. Taking a big breath, she steeled her nerves as she turned to the Black Eagle students. "Hello everyone, I am excited to see your progress." Rhea said this as she walked down the steps to greet them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I made this extra long as a treat for everyone reading. Make sure to comment what you think about the chapter and leave any ideas you may have as well!
> 
> Oh and let me know what pairings you guys want, I'm not too keen on choosing pairings.


	5. Annoyance

**Byleth**

"Good evening Professor, I see you are training your students well. I hope you will all continue to improve, keep up the good work everyone." Rhea kept her response short, instead taking the initiative to smile at the students. His students began to take a break from their training, instead lining up in a straight line to meet the Archbishop herself. Byleth didn't answer her back however, instead opting to keep himself in silence. 

He was still reeling from what happened the night prior; he chose to keep his silence in case a situation like that happened again. Byleth simply sat still and watched, he made no attempt to draw her attention towards him. "Hello, Lady Rhea.” Hubert addressed the older woman in a monotone voice, his gaze never leaving her general direction. “Good evening, Lady Rhea." The rest of the Black Eagle students all greeted her, a respectful tone in their voices. Based on her tone alone, he could tell that Hubert wasn’t quite too thrilled to have the Archbishop around; for once they could agree on this together. 

While the rest of the Black Eagle students were talking with Rhea, Edelgard turned to their teacher with a small, light smile. Even though she was smiling, it always felt she was continuously judging him with her gaze - like he was under a microscope. It was rather uncomfortable at best but Byleth mustered his pride to quickly bury this feeling. “Teacher, I would like to say that was an excellent training session. I feel like I learned a lot from training with you. I hope you will continue to teach us more in the future.” Edelgard wasn’t holding back on her praise towards him.

Byleth silently nodded, thinking that this was the appropriate reaction when taking such criticism from his own student. Acknowledging the improvement in his students was his first step when it came to teaching them - this teaching was buried deep in his heart. “Hello everyone, it has come to my attention that an incident happened early in the morning. I have come to hear about the details from you.” Rhea spoke lightly, her emerald eyes sweeping over the class with a sense of concern.

“I have already gathered the details from the Golder Deer and Blue Lions Houses. So there is no need for you all to omit any details ” Seteth informed this, crossing his arms as he looked over the young students. This was the first time that they’ve ever had all three houses in trouble, that accident must’ve ticked everyone off. Clearing her voice Edelgard began to swiftly explain the situation from the time she entered the classroom to the time where the professor entered the room and scolded them.

Of course she omitted the fact that she came out of the professor's room, as that is irrelevant to the issue at hand. “Ah I understand, then in that case the Black Eagles aren’t completely innocent either. Edelgard, you were severely lacking in your judgement. I am severely disappointed in your actions.” Rhea was seemingly unbiased in her judgement, however that didn’t stop the others from jumping towards Edelgard’s defense. It appeared like she was pushing all the blame on their house leader, who was only a bystander in those events.

“Hold on, you can’t just put all the blame on Elddie! That is not fair.” Dorothea was the first to speak up, her hand resting on her hip as she challenged the Archbishop’s decision. She held a stern face as she addressed Rhea, not at all intimidated by the “superior” prescenes of her just because of the religious symbol. “Dorothea Arnault, I will allow you this one time to raise your voice at me. However there will be no second chance after this.” There was a glint of a warning flashing between Rhea’s emerald eyes before they returned to their natural melancholic state. 

Dorothea retreated her statement at the sight of this, albeit she was still fuming underneath her fake gaze as she sweetly smiled towards her. However, there wasn’t a chance in hell that she was going to allow anyone to disrespect her house leader like that. “Oh, then pray tell would you explain just what her highness is ‘lacking’ that made you come to this decision?” Hubert asked this, as his attention grew more towards the woman standing before them. He wouldn’t allow anyone to simply insult the future Emperor in his presence, less they want to be sent home in an unnamed casket. 

However, for the sake of accomplishing their future goals, Hubert would let this one slide… _ for now at least. _ Byleth remained silent in this matter, examining his students to see whether or not they would continue to stand up to Rhea. “Professor, can you teach me more about fist fighting?” Hearing a voice call out to him, the Professor looked towards the owner of the voice. It was Caspar, whose eyes shone brightly as he stared directly into his face. 

He looked uninterested in the matter, Caspar would rather pester their teacher with questions even when the Archbishop was there. Linhardt was off to the side, knee deep into reading his book to even glance up from the pages to observe reality. From where he sneaked off to retrieve such an item in such a small amount of time, the professor could only guess. Bernadetta remained silent, not uttering even a small mouse like sound, spending her time by hiding behind Petra as a sort of shield. 

She was like a deer caught in car headlights, rather she didn’t want to get scolded by the Archbishop if she had anything to do about it. Bernadetta was scared. It was likely that Rhea had already noticed the poor girl but made no attempt to address her. Seteth stood quietly off to the side, writing down notes between the interactions of the students before putting his quil away. There was a brief silence before the woman continued. 

“Do not misunderstand me. I only meant that her leadership was severely lacking - rather she should’ve sent Dorothea out to get the professor as soon as Dedue walked into the room.” Rhea held a mellow tone as she explained, cupping her hands together while smiling gently. In the mere truth of this discussion, Rhea was more distracted at the mere idea of seeing her “mother” again than anything else in this conversation. Besides for the sake of appearances, Rhea simply didn’t care for the students standing before her; all she wanted was her “mother” by her side. 

However she hid such nasty emotions away from the surface; she didn’t want to damage the image she worked tirelessly for centuries in one day. Just being here next to her “mother” sent chills down her spine, increasing her heart rate. Rhea was happy; Byleth didn’t share this settlement however. It was time that Byleth finally spoke up, seeing that this was truly a situation where his presence was needed. If his students received any other punishment from the church then it would look really bad on his performance as a teacher. “Excuse me, Lady Rhea. I can discipline my students just fine without you having to oversee them.” From Byleth’s point of view, one could understand what and why she was saying such things.

However she was also placing blame on **his** student, just because an incident happened that was out of her control. “I am sorry Professor, since this is your first day… you must be quite anxious because of your students. And for that I am terribly sorry about their behavior, I will promptly settle your account on being offended by them.” Rhea had completely sidestepped his statement, even downright challenging his authority over his own class. She was only seeing her own opinion in this matter, not allowing even another’s a chance to change her outlook.

Byleth was completely dumbfounded, rather he didn’t know how to proceed with the current situation standing before him. For someone who was raised by mercenaries all his life, this was the first time that someone had truly undermine his authority - in his face. It didn’t take long for him to snap out of it however. Waking himself out of his stupor, the young man quickly addressed himself before he completely lost the respect of his students. This was where he was drawing his line. 

“That won’t be necessary. I can handle my own accounts just fine, if you would please continue watching my students from afar without interrupting them so we can get more training in. I would highly appreciate that someone with your importance wouldn’t dare to step on the training grounds and dirty your clothing. If you would please leave Lady Rhea, that would be great.” Byleth coolly said this as he addressed the woman in front of him. There was no malice or ill intent hidden behind his words; like always he was monotone with his way of speech. 

This was the respectful way of telling someone to shut up while being wordy enough to disguise the action. The professor’s dislike for the woman standing in front of him was slowly increasing. The rest of his students behind him, were silent for once; they would rather want to watch the show play out than interrupt. Just when the archbishop was about to respond, another voice cut out against the silence. “Are you fucking kidding me? We have to do another punishment- for what exactly?!” Felix was out of breath as he looked at Rhea. 

While drenched in sweat from head to toe, Felix had finally completed his run around the academy; the rest of his class was still lagging behind him by two laps. He possessed a reputation of having an uncloth mouth - from what Byleth understood, this was from his own prior mercenary days. In a way, the professor could relate to this undisciplined youth. “Felix! Watch your language around the archbishop.” Seteth was quick to shoot out a warning towards the youth. This didn’t deter Felix in the slightest, his scowl only grew on his face in response. 

Seeing that both sides weren’t going to back down, Rhea was quick to remedy the situation. It would be bad if the other knights saw the church and the academy arguing over a little dispute; both the school and her reputation would drop. “It is alright, Seteth. I don’t mind one bit, Felix shouldn’t be bound to limiting his speech just because I am here.” Rhea said while smiling. Her voice was gentle as she spoke but still held a sense of mystery to it; if Byleth didn’t know it sounded almost condescending. 

“Felix.” Byleth uttered his name, causing the young blue haired man to look back towards the professor. He said no words after this, instead he gestured to the empty space beside him; almost like an invitation of sorts. Instead of continuing his meaningless antitics Felix begrudgingly walked to the side of his professor, allowing the woman to continue speaking. “Instead of interrupting Lady Rhea, please allow her to explain first before you voice your complaints. Professor, if you could please keep your students in check.” It was at this point where Seteth could no longer hold back his frustration at this matter. 

It wasn’t the fact that Byleth had indirectly challenged Rhea’s authority; it was more keen that the academy students were acting more childish than the young adults they were in age. Byleth, who no longer wanted to waste any more energy on pointless arguing, nodded his head in understanding. He wasn’t backing down in the slightest if Rhea decided to overthrow his authority again. “Seteth, please.” Lightly tapping her confide on the back, she offered simple reassurance as she turned her attention back towards the young students. 

“After recent events, I have decided that your punishments will be to clean the stables for the next two months. I hope this will teach you all to reflect on your choices in life.” There were a few groans coming from the Black Eagles mouths as Rhea continued talking in a too chipper voice. They weren’t too thrilled with being tasked to clean the stables, meanwhile they couldn’t voice their opposition on the matter due to the reason of authority.

Whether Rhea chose to omit them or not, the archbishop chose to ignore their sounds of discomfort. Instead she continued to issue punishments without thinking of the other's perspective. “Felix, for the Blue Lions, I hope you will inform Dimitri and the others in your house that they will be washing the clothes of everyone in the academy for the two months as well.” There was a slight pause as she gathered air before she continued. Felix bore a heavy scowl as he listened to Lady Rhea detail their punishments next, earning a short snicker from Caspar’s lips. 

Not wanting to deal with the idiot so early, the blue haired student simply walked away from the crowd - instead leaning on one of the support pillars blocking the sun with cool shade. Caspar pouted about Felix but other than that he remained rather docile in the matter. “Edelgard for your failure as a leader for your house, you will be subjected to cleaning the library and dusting off the shelves.” Edelgard made no interjects on her punishment, she simply took it with a grain of salt. She silently nodded as acknowledgement over the matter; it was an annoyance but something she couldn't get out of.

It was best to accept this punishment to avoid unnecessary trouble for everyone else. Out of the corner of her eye, Rhea noticed the Blue Lion and Golden Deer students as they returned to the training grounds. The Blue Lions were covered in sweat as they were breathing heavy, meanwhile the other house was completely covered in dirt stains. The Golden Deer house punishment from their professor consisted of tending to the greenhouse and helping around wherever possible.

“Ugh… my back is completely killing me.” Hilda huffed in annoyance the moment they reached the grounds. Her normally neat hair was completely disheveled, it was honestly unattractive and she would rather not be caught dead by any of guards patrolling the grounds. The rest of her house mumbled similar complaints but none were voiced towards Lysithea, instead they were voiced towards the head gardener that ordered them to do such back breaking tasks. 

Dedue was remotely silent, standing to the side of his house leader with his head held high, without even uttering a single word. He was scolded by Dimitri during their time running laps, to the point where even he wouldn’t be able to forget. “Well at least you didn’t have to run around the entire academy for twenty laps.” Ingrid was not one to voice her complaints but even then she knew when her body was completely spent. 

“Hilda, maybe we should take some time to reflect on our actions? Wasn’t that the whole point of the punishment?” Marianne stated this with a meek voice. Bringing her hand to Marianne’s head, Hilda proceed to ruffle her best friend’s hair, much to the embarrassment of the blue haired girl. Throughout this conversation Claude remained quiet, his eyes glassy as he stared into the space ahead of them. He appeared to be in deep thought over the matter, only his mood seemingly worsened when his eyes laid upon Rhea.

“Welcome back everyone, I hope you’ve learned from your experiences.” Rhea’s smile was gentle as she addressed the other students. Her overbearing nature could no longer be detected, as if the mere moments that happened earlier was only an illusion. Both Claude and Edelgard found this sickening, although their face made no incline to mimic this feeling. “Lady Rhea, an incident has happened at the stables.” Just then a knight came running up to the archbishop, breathing heavy against the heaviness of his armor.

“Oh my. I hope everyone will excuse me, I have things to attend to. Seteth, can you please send out a formal notice about the house’s punishments in the morning?” Without as much as a glance, the woman turned around and started walking as she was escorted to the scene of the crime. “I hope you all will take this chance to reflect on your actions.” Seteth scolded everyone before he too walked away in the direction of the main building.

“Ah, well that sure was exciting. All's well that ends well.” Dimitri mused this, as he looked towards his peers. Many of his own house members had already headed towards shade, where they could cool down from their laps in the sun. “Eddie, are you okay? That bi- I mean Lady Rhea really grilled into you. I was afraid that you were growing pale. You looked white as a sheet.” Dorothea let out her complaints as she folded her arms.

“My, My. The princess growing pale as a ghost? That must’ve been a shock.” Claude didn’t miss this opportunity to tease the other house leader. Lysithea, on the other hand, headed towards the shade where Ashe was. In her hand was a book that she hoped to share with the other student, for the meantime. “Oh, me growing pale? The only one’s face growing pale was yours when Dedue got in your face.” Edelgard remarked back. There was no malice behind their statements, it was in all honesty playful banter between them.

“Dorothea, there is no need to worry about my well being. I am completely fine.” Edelgard sighed before she addressed the Adrestain songstress. “Lady Rhea can be quite harsh with her words. I fear she must’ve struck a chord in your heart.” Petra was standing off to the side, Benadetta still hiding behind her. Byleth remained silent between their banter, instead opting to calm his nerves when it came to the church figurehead. He allowed them to converse for five minutes until he decided that their mood had completely improved since Rhea’s interruption.

“Well now that everyone is well rested, how about we continue our training for today? Claude, Dimitri. You can take your classmates back to your professors now.” Byleth instructed the other houses to leave so he could continue teaching his own. After a few goodbyes and promises of hanging out later, the other students left to return to their respective teachers.

~^*****^~

"We will pick up book studies another time then. Please make sure to return your practice weapons before going back to your rooms for the day." Sighing in his head, Byleth brought his hand to his forehead as he went to wipe the sweat away from his face. It had been four hours since the whole Rhea and Seteth commotion visit to the training grounds. Rhea’s interruption was an annoyance; it threw off their entire training session for today. By burying himself in training, he doubts that many of his students could simply keep up with his brutal regime of exercise.

Many of them were spiraled across the dirt, breathing heavily while their weapons lay scattered across their bodies in an abrupt mess. “Devil… our professor is the devil.” Bernadetta moaned this, she couldn’t help but to think about the pain her entire body was in. Her professor made her continue archery practice until her hands could barely hold a bow anymore. There was so much pain in her arms that it felt like jelly. The others only groaned in agreement, too tired to saying anything else.

“Devil…? He’s a complete monster.” Caspar hissed, for once didn’t have the energy to even want to continue fighting anymore. Practicing his punches, time and time again against their professor, wore out the muscles in his arms. Everyone in the Black Eagles were completely wiped on the ground; the only way the other knights could tell they were alive was due to the constant rise and fall of their chest. Simply taking a peek out of the corner of his eye, his violet eyes became glued to Edelgard’s neck. A single bead of sweat slowly rolling down her perfect reaching just below her neck.

He had trouble focusing on what Rhea was saying in the background; it became more and more muffled the longer he drifted into her smell. Swallowing hard to avoid drool traveling out his mouth, Byleth quickly tore himself away from his young student. It was around this time when Sothis finally decided to show her green haired head. _ Hello, Mister Idiot. Did you miss me or were you too busy fawning over that white haired princess? _ Her teasing voice echoed throughout his head as she suddenly appeared over his shoulder. ‘Where were you?’ Byleth figured the being in his head would’ve been awake by now. Sothis made no effort to answer his question, instead plucking his head with a silly expression plastered on her face. 

Some things are just needed to not be said. The professor kept his usual poker face, instead allowed himself to feel the cool breeze of the evening wind on his face. When everything was all said and done, the students gathered their things to head to the dining hall.

* * *

**Edelgard**

After Lady Rhea and Seteth left, that’s when Edelgard could finally relax - even if it were for a little while. There wasn’t a moment where she could utterly let her guard down; especially when in the presence of one of the goddess children. Just seeing Rhea alone, ignited a flame of rebellion and distrust deep within her heart. The young princess couldn’t stand being next to the people causing so much sorrow and devastation in the world due to the simple reason of their births. 

It was sickening to see how much of a twisted hypocritical personality Rhea truly had, Edelgard somewhat feared what her true personality was like underneath the surface. Taking a peek over her shoulders, she couldn't have helped but notice that their professor was being warily silent. Even with the silence of a fox, statistics show he would've uttered at least a word before they left the grounds. Nothing has been said, since Seteth and Rhea's departure, at all. 

“Ah! Teacher, are you okay?” Her voice held back a sense of curiosity as the white haired girl glanced at her teacher. Her tone was laced with worry as her actions deliberately slowed her down to match his walking pace. Her new teacher was particular, rather she found it strangely endearing how he would space out from time to time. To her, it was cute. The other Black Eagles students were heading back to their dorms, eager to shower and change into more comfortable clothes other than their school uniforms.

Edelgard was the only one that had decided to stay behind with their professor; even Hubert wanted some alone time to himself. “I’m fine.” Byleth responded to her promptly, keeping his words short. Breaking away from her was his best option, he didn’t want to lose himself completely in her scent. The more he was exposed to her scent, the more he found it alluring to him. To someone that lacked the ability to show his emotions, he found it a complete new experience and as such he was cautious of it.

The young Adrestian princess lacked this foresight, instead clasped her hands together in a cheerful manner. She seemed to be in a better mood than when Rhea was around. “Oh Professor, I would like to thank you for standing up for me today. Even if it was for the sake of your pride, the mere gesture warmed my heart.” There was a slight warmth to her cheeks as the white haired girl spoke. “I suppose so.” Byleth nodded in response, their walking speed unknowingly syncing with each other at every step. 

Just then Ferndinand came around the corner and wrapped his arm around her neck, much to the annoyance of the Black Eagles house leader. Byleth felt a ting of uncomfortableness in his heart when he saw this sight, however this feeling washed away as quickly as it came. There was no reason to that feeling, he should just stand here and not intrude on his student’s bonding time together. No matter if he was feeling uncomfortable about it or not. “Ohohoh~ Well Edelgard, let’s go clean ourselves up then head for dinner. It’ll be my treat.” The orange haired youth was partially bouncing up and down with joy, he seemed excited about something. 

“Ha~ I haven’t seen you this excited since you found out we were in the same class this year. What brought about this excitement?” Edelgard was curious by nature to see what he was up to. Usually the noble youth would flaunt his status, do everything he could to try to challenge her at so he could possibly gain some ground over her. He was her self proclaimed rival, something that she found to be a bit annoying at times, however she knew he was just doing so because of his status. 

“Oh they brought some exotic foods from Brigid for dinner tonight, apparently Petra has been given the chance to cook it for everyone.” This was news to both Edelgard and Byleth. Byleth wasn’t too familiar with the dishes of the world, seeing as he had been a mercenary and lacked access to such luxurious meals. Edelgard, on the other hand, hasn’t had many opportunities to enjoy the food from outside the regular meals at the monastery - let alone Petra’s vassal state.

So to her it was a fun experience that she couldn’t help but to look forward to; even more so now that Byleth was with them. “Oh is that so? I believe we shouldn’t take too long to get ready, what do you think Teacher?” Somehow the discussion shifted towards the taller male standing beside them. After much silence, the professor finally opened his mouth to speak. “Dinner… sounds like a plan. If you two will excuse me, I want to get ready for the rest of the evening.” Byleth’s tone was flat as he directed his attention towards his room.

It became apparent to the trio that they had traveled quite a considerable distance away from the training grounds during their conversation, only to arrive in front of the teachers dorms. Both Edelgard and Ferdinand watched their professor walk away from them, heading towards his own dorm room. “I shall meet you back at the dining hall, I bide you a-do for the evening Ferdinand.” Edelgard was polite with her farewells, keeping a short speech before leaving to her own dorm to get dressed for the evening.

When the young girl reached her room, she marched straight to her closet to search through the many pairs she possessed. As the future ruler of the Adrestian Empire, she traveled with a lot of clothes; whether for extra copies of the school uniform or mundane clothes - she had plenty of them. Taking off her sweaty uniform, Edelgard tossed them into the corner basket to where her used clothes went.

Edelgard felt the cool chill of the air nip at her skin as she dressed herself in comfortable pajamas, out of season holiday pajamas decorated in little snowmen; for the time being. As she went through her closet picking out casual clothes for dinner, she couldn’t stop thinking about her professor’s chiseled form underneath his shirt. Just the feeling of his abs sent shivers down her spine, Edelgard squeezed her arms as she bit down on the corner of her lips. 

She knew she shouldn’t have such thoughts about him; rather he was her teacher and it was highly inappropriate. She shouldn’t imagine the way his sweat roll down his chest or just when he flexed his arms in just the right place to show off his muscles. Just imagining the way those muscles wrap around her body- By the will of Sothis, she was completely hopeless. Swallowing the pool of drool that formed in her mouth, Edelgard brought her hands to her face trying to cool down her already heated face.

Was this what love at first sight was like? Edelgard felt completely embarrassed, even the tips of her ears began to flush red. Vigorously shaking her head at this ridiculous conclusion, the young girl continued to peer into her closet. “No… No… these dresses won’t do. I need something a bit more… casual.” She reminded herself this while looking upon the rows of dresses in her catalog. Edelgard found herself particularly picky about the way she was dressing; eventually she settled on a white top and tan shorts for bottoms.

“Ah this looks really cute.” With her clothes set for the evening, Edelgard retired to take a bath at the bathhouse before dressing herself. Collecting her necessary items for her bath, she quickly left her room and traveled to the bathhouse down the hallway. Entering the steaming hot water reawakened the sore spots all over her body that she didn’t know she held from Byleth’s training hours prior. 

All the while she was soaking herself in the spring water, she couldn’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if her teacher had completely lost his senses when they were in his room together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I tried to put some tension between Rhea and Byleth this chapter, next chapter I hope to add more scenes where Edelgard can start to fully have development towards her feelings concerning her teacher. 
> 
> Next chapter I will also officially open a Q&A for all your questions concerning the fanfic, so for those with questions about certain characters please stay tuned! 
> 
> Again, if you have any comments about this particular chapter then comment down below!

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, thank you for taking the time to read my fan fiction. I for one adore Byleth and Edelgard's relationship during her route and am dedicated to writing as many stories to contribute to the Male Byleth side of the fandom. This being said, I wont be able to accurately do the characters justice perfectly if that is what you are looking for. However I will try my best to deliver a story to you that will leave you craving for more of this pairing.
> 
> If you have any comments or ideas on how to continue the story, let me know. I would love to hear how my story/writing is.


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